In the series Hola Elena, this ambivalence is complete. The presence of pictures of the persons who form the author’s circle of close friends contrasts with another presence, albeit virtual and flown over of herself. It is then willingly reduced to a post-it note about an action, a demand, a request, a farewell. The absence of their physical presence is replaced by a photography and reduced by a single forename on post-it notes, is elevated as a wire that threads the set of pictures and techniques with their photographic work as a merging whole entity. The subject’s handwriting and photograph are portrayed as two ways to approach us to their persona, but also to the already established relationship between the photographer and her models.
Photography is also a language that investigates visible and visual forms capable of relating facts not easily linked to each other. The possibility of weaving opposite ideas and bringing to the spotlight what we miss at first glance provide them with a magical quality, whose effects are attenuated by their massive affluence, but should not take for granted. We can stop to admire the details of the photographs that make the series Hola Elena and discover lots of small details full of meaning. The photographs, therefore, sharpen our focus and enhance the relationship between the portrayed and the addressee of the message (Elena). Interpretation is a field that has neither doors nor walls.
Text by the essayist, curator, independent editor and teacher Alvaro de los Angeles